Junior High Adventures

Pennies from Heaven

There @chunkieMilk I did it you happy? :sunglasses:

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Anders slung his bag over his shoulder, looking out toward the dark grey sky as he let the front door close behind him. With one last, heavy breath, he pushed off of the door, then stepped down the sidewalk, shaking his head. Alone yet again, in another unfamiliar place, with another unfamiliar group of people. Before his thirteenth birthday, no less. He came to the bus stop all too quickly, stopping at the corner while leaning against the stop sign by the road. 

The bus came to a slow stop in front of him. Thank god he didn't wake up late. Then he might have to run to school with a piece of toast in his mouth while he screamed about how he might end up late. The doors opened for him, and he walked on board, hiding his face as he walked by the bus driver.

"Get to the back of the bus."

Anders kept his eyes on the floor as he stepped to the back of the bus, then settled down in one of the furthest spots, staring out into the distance outside. The dark clouds swirled dangerously close, already telling of a really, really terrible day.

"Hey kid."

Anders looked away from the window, then back behind him to find someone much older than him grinning at him. An upperclassman for sure. "What do you want?"

"Want some weed?" The kid held out a blunt to him, grinning wider.

Anders swallowed, looking down, then back up at the kid. "No. No, I can't-"

"Just take it." The kid shoved the blunt in Anders' face. "It's not that bad. Not like anyone in school will know. Just take it."

Anders shrank back. "Uh, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Come on. It's just one hit. Just one."

Anders tried to lean away as the kid approached, hitting the seat behind him. Before he could answer, someone rested a hand on his shoulder, with another voice speaking up from Anders' side.

Rurik.

Anders' cheeks lit up as he tried to turn away. Rurik. Of course Rurik showed up. The one person he wanted to impress, and he already messed it up by acting like a bitch in front of a weed kid. He didn't know what language Rurik spoke, but he assumed Italian. A really pleasant Italian.

"You think I can speak Russian, white boy?"

Russian?

Anders looked up as the kid suddenly threw something at his eyes. The pain burned against them as he screamed, curling into himself and shielding his eyes as his eyes throbbed and burned. He felt the hand lift off of his shoulder, then heard Rurik stepping past him. Rurik repeated something in It- in Russian, which he couldn't quite understand, with the weed kid yelling back.

"Shut the fuck up, you gay ass mother fucker!"

Anders whimpered as he curled into himself, clawing at his eyes as they got more painful by the moment. He could hear Rurik and the kid fighting in front of him, with the other few kids in the bus chanting and egging the fight on, with the bus driver yelling slur after slur up at the front of the bus. The battle ended with a heavy thump, the sound painful against his already throbbing head and eyes.

"Let's get out of here," he heard Rurik mutter, his voice low, rough. "We can skip school today. Come on, I'll get you home, and I can patch up those eyes of yours."

Rurik lifted up Anders easily, Anders grunting as he felt himself picked up, then thrown over Rurik's shoulder. Reeling back, Rurik punched the window, shattering the glass.